A nation of homesteaders

Monday marks the 151st anniversary of one of the signing of one most generous U.S. property laws.  On May 20, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the first Homestead Act into law.  The Homestead Act which went into effect the next January 1 gave everyone, including former slaves and women, who were over 21 or a head of household and had never taken up arms against the US (this was during the Civil War) a claim for 160 acres of  unappropriated federal land.   To be awarded their deed homesteaders had to live on their claim for 5 years and  show proof of having improved the land.

The quarter section grant fulfilled Thomas Jefferson's vision that a nation of small farmers would help protect American democracy, 160 acres was in his view the perfect sized family farm.  The aim was to populate the territory of the Louisiana Purchase.

Oklahoma Land Rush

Over time the Act was amended to meet and comply with federal policy changes, and was finally .  During its 124 year history 4 million families filed claims for 270 million acres, perhaps a quarter of the claims became successful working farms.   The last deed was granted in 1988 to Kenneth Deardorff for 80 acres on the Stony River in Southwestern Alaska

Toad

Public Service Announcement IV

Topeka Capital Journal photo

One of the responsibilities of being male is bearing the burden of the "I'm right" gene.  Men know what's best, and are intolerant of those who believe otherwise.  That's why we do most of the things we do, we do it our way, not someone else's.  I am here today gentlemen to ask you to do something another way.

The fire crew in the photo above is at the home of lifelong friends of people we love.  The fire investigator suggests that the probably avoidable fire was caused by a series of events many of us are guilty of.  The day was hot and Dad having just finished cutting the grass put the lawnmower away.  It is speculated the still hot mower was parked too near a gas can in an enclosed garage.  The heat from the mower... gas fumes... fire truck.

For 50 years, that's the way he did it without a problem.  Neither dad nor anyone on his street will ever do it dad's way again.  You shouldn't either.

Toad

Yogi Berra- cool guy

As a boy growing up in St. Louis it was anathema to root for anything New York, we worshipped in the National League having no truck with the American league especially the Yankees, with one exception Yogi Berra.

At home, baseball broadcasts on the radio were the background music of our lives.  The voice of the Cardinals was Harry Carey (who later became the Chicago Cubs broadcaster), and his sidekick was a local boy and former Cardinal catcher Joe Garagiola, who went on to a long a prosperous broadcasting career.  Garagiola used to brag that not only wasn't he the best catcher in baseball, as a kid he wasn't the best catcher on his block.  Joe's best friend as a kid was the boy across the street, Yogi Berra who later became a Yankee catcher and Hall of Famer.

Garagiola left the Cardinal broadcast booth and was replaced by a young announcer named Jack Buck, who later was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster, as was Garagiola.  In one of those truth is stranger than fiction episodes, Buck and his wife purchased their first home on the street where Joe and Yogi grew up.  It is most likely the only street in America where three Baseball Hall of Fame members lived.  The street has been renamed to Baseball Hall of Fame Place in honor of the tree men.    

Yogi whose birthday was Sunday was as well known for his pithy comments as for his baseball prowess.  Here from Things People Said are a couple of my favorite Yogi-isms.

"This is like deja vu all over again."

"You can observe a lot just by watching."

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

"I want to thank you for making this day necessary." -- On Yogi Berra Appreciation Day in St. Louis in 1947.

"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."

"If you can't imitate him, don't copy him."

"Baseball is 90% mental -- the other half is physical."

"It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much."

"Slump? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hitting."

"I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat, and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?"

"A nickel isn't worth a dime today."

"Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

Once, Yogi's wife Carmen asked, "Yogi, you are from St. Louis, we live in New Jersey, and you played ball in New York. If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?" Yogi replied, "Surprise me."

"Do you mean now?" -- When asked for the time.

"I take a two hour nap, from one o'clock to four."

"You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough in the second half you give what's left."

"I made a wrong mistake."

"If the fans don't come out to the ball park, you can't stop them."

"Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel."

"The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."

"It ain't the heat; it's the humility."

"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."

"I didn't really say everything I said.

Happy Birthday Yogi

Toad

Corps of Discovery

Hoping to purchase the city of New Orleans from Napoleon, in early 1803 a group of American diplomats sailed to Paris to inquire about its availability.  More in need of cash to fight the British than of North American territory, on April 30, 1803 the French government agreed to sell the entire  850,000 square mile French territory of Louisiana to the United States for 3 cents per acre. 

As anyone who just bought a piece of property would do, President Thomas Jefferson was curious to determine just what exactly he bought.  Unavailable to go himself, Jefferson retained Army Captain Merriwether Lewis, a known frontiersman to command a "Corps of Discovery" to see what he would find.  The Corps orders were concise:

"The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri River, & such principle stream of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purpose of commerce"

Captain Lewis selected William Clark as his second in command.  The Corps of Discovery consisting of 9 young men from Kentucky, 14 Army volunteers, 2 French watermen, and Lewis's black servant crossed the Mississippi River just north of the confluence of the Missouri River upriver from St. Louis on this day 1804.  Clark and his party joined the Corps 2 days later at the Missouri river town of St. Charles. 

The crew left St. Charles, to begin their 2 year expedition, the morning of May 15, camping that night on an island located a short walk from where I sit. 

Toad

1987

I swiped this 1987 photo from the "upscale men and women's retailer" Paul Stuart NY's Tumbler site.  Admittedly, 1987 was a long time ago, and I may have only 1 suit hanging in my closet from that era, but try as I might I cannot recall jackets ever being that long.

Was that truly the fashion, or is this simply an editorial shot?

Toad

Like I'd trust you

The weather has been near perfect for mushroom hunting in Mayberry woods.  Plenty of rain, cool night temps, daily highs not so high, yet my memory is poor so I am pleasantly surprised each spring when the fungi appear.   I awoke yesterday to a ground swell  everywhere we mulched last fall. I immediately invited my bride to share our bounty. She rained on my parade. Had I better memory I would have remembered we had this discussion last year as well.

"What do you know about mushrooms?", she inquired.  "Not a damn thing, nor I don't particularly like eating mushrooms."  The conversation went downhill from there.  Supposedly there are a trillion or so varieties of mushrooms.  Some you can eat, some will make you ill, some will drop you dead.

Unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing, it is best to leave wild mushrooms alone, the penalty for poor performance is great while the markup at the neighborhood farmers market isn't so high as to be off putting.  And it's good to have someone else to blame.

Welcome spring.

Toad

Gatsby

I took in an early matinee and save for a few continuity snafus, and the likelihood you could read the book in less time than the movie runs, I liked it. I'll share a few comments.

1. Leo DiCaprio is Gorgeous.  I never realized how good looking he is.

2.  You are likely to better enjoy the movie if you erase any preconceived notions you brought outside the theatre.  Pretend you never read or had heard of The Great Gatsby, see it with an open mind.

3. The women and their costumes are a treat.

4.  I do not believe I have ever seen a movie in which the men's clothing fit so poorly, especially the shirts and jackets.  For a while I believed this was on purpose, but I couldn't understand Daisy becoming worked up over ill fitting shirts.  Nothing was tailored, and it became distracting.

4.  The film, while not Great, was much better than I hoped, and unworthy of most of its bad reviews as long as you do not take the film seriously.

Enjoy, it's worth the $4

Toad.

Winston takes over

To my mind modern Britain stands upon 2 pillars of strength, each pillar powerfully influenced the outcome of  World War II.  The first, the abdication of King Edward VIII, Hitler's King in Waiting. Perhaps the greatest single event in the history of England.  The abdication not only brought Bertie to the throne but perhaps more importantly his wife, the steely Queen Elizabeth. I attribute David's post war survival to the innate kindness of the English people and that they were simply tired of death. He and Wallis would have been strung up in most non-English speaking countries.

Kings no longer lead armies into battle but they can and often do lead the people. Bertie and Elizabeth's wartime example, staying in London and sharing the day to day suffering of the locals was a needed tonic to a country at war, and one they would have never gotten from Bertie's predecessor.

The second, and perhaps just as unlikely to predict as the abdication, was Winston Churchill's 1940 invitation from King George VI to form a government as prime minister.  Churchill had, at best, a checkered history in politics, was distrusted by both Labour and the Conservatives, but the only armed service actively preparing for the coming war was Winston's Admiralty .  On this date in 1940 Winston took on the role he prepared for his entire life. " I was conscious of a profound sense of relief" he later wrote, "At last I had the authority to give directions over the whole scene.  I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and this trial."

World War II history is difficult to imagine without him at the helm.

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